A prominent leader from Oberete-Ibeme, Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA)
Chief Sir Ben Nwulu has said that the realization of the proposed ENOA State will completely alleviate the sufferings of his people following what he termed as marginalization in Obingwa LGA.
News Echo gathered that Ibeme, a boundary town between Abia and Akwa-Ibom covers
an area of about 39sqr.km and is situated South of Ntighauzo-Amairi community in Obi-Ngwa L.G.A., North of Akirika-Obu in Ukwa East L.G.A. and Ika L.G.A. of Akwa-Ibom State; East of Akpaa-Mbato community in Obingwa.
Nwulu, a retired senior civil servant, said that
his town, Ibeme people before the creation of autonomous communities used to answer just Ibeme, but currently have four autonomous communities; Ibeme (Umuoha, Obete-Uku, Ohanze & Umuodu) Abala, Oberete-Isiala-Ibeme and Abala-Nkamiri.
The Ibeme elder said that the marginalization of his people by the dominant Ngwa clan in Obingwa with the excuse that they have no qualified people for an appointment is a false claim, stressing that their marginalization is centred on the fact that the Ngwa has realized that they are Ndoki by origin.
“Ibeme is a part of Ndoki that was carved out into Obingwa Local Government Area. When they carve you to join a particular group that’s larger than you, you become nearly a slave or something lower than that among those people. And that’s how we are, I mean the people of Ibeme where I belong.
“Our dialect is different. What we speak is what you see people from the Azumini area and people from Oberete-Asa speaking. We migrated from Oberete-Asa which was carved into Osisioma Local Government Area but they are Asa people carved into Osisioma Local Government.”
Nwulu said that to the people of Ibeme who migrated originally from a town called Oberete-Asa, the people from Akirika Obu and Azumini in the current Ukwa East LGA are the closest group among them which explains why when they settled according to their history, they aligned with them.
He said that Ibeme, Akirika-Obu and Azumini became one clan after their settlement while Azumini was their headquarters then, things changed during state creation (bukanization) when they were surprised to see themselves in Obingwa instead of staying together with their people at Akirika-Obu and Azumini who are in Ukwa East.
“We accepted and there is nothing we can do. Obingwa has 11 political wards and is traditionally divided into two: Agalaba and Uhe. Oberete-Ibeme where I came from is under Agalaba which is the group that produced Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. We have 8 Political Wards out of 11 Wards in Obingwa situated in Agalaba. Ibeme is one of the political wards called Ward-11,” he said.
Nwulu however lamented that in all the political Wards in Agalaba, it is only Ward-11(Ibeme) that has not produced a prominent political leader be it a commissioner, appointees etc and decried the fact that his people are regarded as a land without credible men simply because they are minority clan in Obingwa.
“I’ve made it clear that I’m not happy with the condition of my people here. When they see us they’ll always say “onweghi onye di ebe ahu” which simply means that there’s nobody meaningful they can see among my people in Ibeme.
“I’ve said it times without number that we take certain things for granted and some of these things are not fair. I’ve also made it clear that in all works of life, Ibeme people have people.
“A land that has a good number of well-educated people who are renowned in different fields including professors who had served as Deans of notable faculties in top Universities in the country.
“When they want to share something, they ignore us. In terms of service, you know that grade level 17 is the highest and that is the grade I retired from so, what are all these issues of we not having people if not marginalization?
He reiterated that the marginalization they are currently facing in Obingwa and other LGAs they are found is not because of not having prominent and qualified people, but because the Obingwa people do not see them as a part of them.
“That’s why when we started this ENOA state movement, the movers made sure that all Ndoki and Asa lands carved into other local government areas within Abia State are carved into the proposed ENOA state to give us a sense of belonging.
“The other people in Rivers State and Akwa-Ibom State that share similar ancestry with us that are passing through the same suffering as a result of balkanization are also part of it.”
Nwulu said that inasmuch as the Ibeme people are lamenting about their condition in Obingwa LGA of Abia State, the two LGAs that was given to their real ancestral home of Asa and Ndoki which is Ukwa West and Ukwa East are highly marginalized in Abia State.
“Even in the two Local Government given to Ndoki and Asa people known as Ukwa East and Ukwa West, if you go there now you can not see any road that leads to anywhere. The oil base of Abia State is Owaza in Ukwa West.
“You cannot drive from Obehie-Asa to Owaza. When you visit Owaza you’ll never believe there’s a deposit of oil there. The oil companies just come there, do shoddy jobs on the roads to enable them to move out whatever they want to do and that’s is it. Nobody cares to say a word.
“In Obingwa, Governor Ikpeazu has tried. He’s currently constructing a road from Akpa to Abala-Ibeme to Umuoha, Ntigha to other places, but Oberete-Ibeme as a community was cut off.
“We didn’t complain much. We believe that once we get to Abala, we can find our way to Oberete. Even when we get to Umuoha, we can trace our way. Recently I was told the Governor has approved the road that passed through Ibeme to Akirika-Obu in Ukwa East.
“If that’s true that’ll be the only benefit we’ve received from this government aside from the light we got from this Government as well.
In terms of appointment, none of us has been privileged to serve because according to them, we don’t have people.”
Nwulu said that the highest injustice was done to his people during the sharing of Covid-19 palliatives in the state and Obingwa LGA when all political appointees were asked to go help their people, which unfortunately left his people without anyone as they had nobody to help.
“During the Covid-19 lockdown when political appointees were asked to go home in Abia to give incentives to their people, none came for my people because we had none. What some of us did is to gather the little we had from our pension to give our people some palliatives. What they did to us then was the highest injustice.
“Political appointees and political leaders from other areas were helping their people and our people were abandoned. I came to myself and ask God why are we suffering like this? We’re only good at attending their meetings, but for anyone that has to do with incentives and gifts, our names will not be mentioned.
“This was why I was happy when the issue of ENOA State came up. It is the only surviving solution we have since my community and the other communities in Ibeme were duly carved into ENOA State.
“We’re Ndoki people and God must help ENOA state to be actualized if not Ibeme people will continue to suffer for a long time. It’s better for people to come together in their kindred. Even if you give a child the highest gift, when the mother comes back from the market, the child will go straight to embrace the mother because that gives him safety.”
